Gone Too Soon
by VanillaWay
Summary: When Olivia's son dies, who does the SVU gang suspect? Will they catch the bastard?
1. Chapter 1

I OWN NOTHING. ANYTING YOU RECOGNIZE IS PROPERTY OF DICK WOLF.

I really should be studying for finals..

Olivia stood on the steps of Manhattan's 16th precinct, recalling the tragic incident that had unfolded there. Anthony Benson, better known by the SVU squad as Noah, was so ecstatic to walk from school to Olivia's work. Noah was like a nephew to John, Fin and Elliot and the grandson that Cragen never had. The eight year old boy told his mom that morning that "I am a big boy now" in his mostly manly voice and insisted that he was old enough to walk from school to the precinct. Now look it where it got him, lying on a steel table in the city morgue..

Noah always told Olivia that he wanted to be like her when he grew up but she never wanted that for him. She never wanted her innocent, happy child to see the world for what it really was. Rapists, cold blooded murderers and traumatized victims should be the least of his worries. She was determined to preserve his innocence. She would protect him, no matter how hard it was. But she couldn't protect him forever. He died alone, he bled out on the steps of the precinct alone and they hadn't even got the killer's face on the video cameras.

"It wasn't your fault, Liv," she heard a familiar voice behind her. Elliot was always there for Noah, be it Career Day at work and even though he was more of an uncle to Noah he faithfully took him to the Father/Son Weekend Fishing Trip every year.

"Really, El? I allowed my 8 year old son to walk the thug-infested streets of Manhattan and someone puts a bullet in his skull and it's not my fault?" she spat. He just didn't get it, Noah was her only child. He had 5 and he talked about them as though he had 4 to spare.

"No, it's not your fault. It's the son of a bitch's fault that Noah is gone," Elliot said, wiping his blood shot eyes. She hung on to the last word of his sentence, "gone", it was so final. The reality that Noah was never coming back had slapped her in the face when Elliot said 'gone.' She winced when Elliot put a hand on her shoulder.

"We'll get him, Liv. It's cold, everyone's inside picking those videos apart," Elliot said, taking her hand and leading her inside.

They walked through endless pitiful stares, but she didn't want pity. She wanted her son back. They walked into the squad room where Fin, Munch and a computer tech sat watching the video intensely.

"Got anything, guys?" Elliot asked, an arm still around Olivia's slender shoulders.

Fin shook his head. "I'm not getting anything from this but a bad case of "I wanna kill the bastard"," Fin said, his fists clenched at his sides. John nodded in agreement.

"Play it one more time for me, Liv you should go lay down," Elliot suggested but Olivia stood her ground.

Elliot nodded at the tech to play the video again. He pressed play and the tragic moment replayed itself on the Samsung tv.

Noah, Fantastic four lunch box in hand, had just turned around the corner when a black Expedition pulled up on the side of the curb. Noah looked left and looked right just like Olivia told him to before he crossed the street and used the crosswalk like he was told to. He began bounding up the steps when the black Jeep pulled off from the side and swung on the side of Noah, almost hitting him. A hand emerged from the passenger side and pointed it straight at Noah. A loud bang sounded in the streets and Noah hit the floor with a thud.

Olivia cried out in pain, not just hers but to see her young son be slain right in front of her workplace was painful. Elliot placed both hands on Olivia's shoulders to keep her from falling, while trying to keep his own tears from escaping. Fin put his face in his hands and walked into the cribs, John following him. Olivia looked at them questioningly.

"They've been working all night, they're just really tired," Elliot explained, as the tears fell from Olivia's eyes.

"I want to see him," Olivia said. Elliot shook his head at her.

"It wasn't a request, Stabler, dammit I want to see my son!" she said, clearly fed up.

Stabler gave in and the two walked down to the morgue together. When they got there, the usually opened door was closed which meant Melinda didn't want anyone inside... she had baby sat for Noah on numerous occasions and she was just as devastated as the rest of the team. Elliot knocked twice on the door before opening it. Warner was standing over Noah's body, looking at it as though she had missed something. She had been so focused on Noah's body she didn't even notice the two come in..

"Nice shirt," Stabler said. "You were wearing it yesterday, go home Mel," Stabler ordered.

"I can't figure out if this "6 bullet is equal to the bullet hole on his medulla.." she was cut off by Elliot.

"Go home, everyone's had a long couple of days" Stabler said it a second time.

Melinda wiped her eyes and began to put Noah's body away but Elliot stopped her.

"Liv wants to see him," Elliot said.

"That's not a good..." Melinda started.

"You wanna try reasoning with a woman that just lost her son, took out a Marine last year and is as stubborn as I am?" Elliot asked, tilting his head.

"I'll leave him on the table," Melinda answered quickly.

She knew just as well as anyone in the precinct that Olivia and Elliot were perfecrt partners because they both had skulls as thick as padlocks. Melinda wiped her eyes with her labcoat sleeve and left a note for the intern to put the body away and she raced out of the door.

"Ready?" Elliot asked.

Olivia nodded and walked up to the table. She stood over her son's pale body and pushed his tousled curls out of his face. She'd told him to comb his hair that morning, but he was just as stubborn as she was and "forgot" to do it. She'd never see him get his purple belt in tae kwon do which he was so excited about. Elliot pulled an arm around her waist and pulled her toward him when she began to cry. He looked intently at Noah's body as if it were supposed to bring him back, but he said it himself.

Noah was gone.

Elliot called the intern to put the body away and the two left the morgue together. They walked back up to the precinct and they stopped dead in their tracks when the tech guy who played the video ran up to them.

"Detectives, I think I might have something but she's not gonna like it. Follow me, if you will," he said and retreated into a backroom, Elliot and Olivia following him.

The tech stood next to Elliot and whispered in his ear. "I looked through the video again and magnified the shooter's hand, how many persons do you know with a bald head eagle on their hand?I only know of one, a particular fed Olivia put away.." the tech trailed off.

Elliot stared at the tech as though he had just discovered some profound truth. "Dean Porter's out of jail," he whispered back. 


	2. Chapter 2

Elliot stared at the tech and to Olivia. "What did you bring us here to see?" Olivia asked impatiently.

Elliot looked up at the ceiling and to his left and right as though the way to say the answer lie in those directions. He clenched his fists and thought about the many ways he would kill Porter. He knew Porter was a rat from the start, he never had Olivia's best interest in mind.

"Olivia, they discovered a tattoo on the hand of the shooter..." Olivia cut Elliot off.

"Great, so just print the tattoo off and show it around to local parlors then..." Elliot stopped her short.

"It's a tattoo of a bald eagle," he said plainly and watched the horror spread across her face.

"Dean's out of jail?" she asked, a drop of terror in her voice.

"Good behavior got him 7 years," Elliot explained. "That makes him 42 years old," Elliot finished.

Olivia ran out of the room and into the squad room. Munch already had all of Dean's case files on his desk, Fin was talking to the director of the FBI and Cragen was speaking with Dean's correction officer on the phone. Everyone already knew. Everyone looked up from what they were doing and when they saw Olivia they stopped.

"Just when were you planning on tell me? After you caught him?" Olivia exclaimed.

Elliot jogged up behind her and tried to reason with her. "Liv..." he began.

"Don't Liv me, you bastard. How long have you known?" she shouted at him.

"Wait a minute! I found out the same time you did!" Elliot shouted back.

"Hey, hey! We keep it civil around here! Olivia take 30 in the crib and Stabler help Munch with the case files!" Cragen ordered.

Olivia stormed off and Elliot sat took half of the casefiles off of Munch's desks. Casey ran in the precinct, doubled over breathing hard waving a piece of paper.

"Warrant for Porter's house, go search!" she said in a shaky voice, out of breath.

Elliot took the warrant out of her hand and motioned for Fin and Munch to follow. "May I ask why you are so tired?" Elliot wondered.

Casey shot him a terrifying look. "I ran all the way from work to Judge Donelly's house to here, I have grounds to be tired.. NOW GO!" she said and the three detectives raced out of the door.

Elliot sped on the highway and then he began doing 90 in a 65 zone. "Elliot, ease up, we got time," Fin said, trying to calm him down.

"Fin, Deans leaves for work at 7:00 am, it's now 6:50.. we don't have ANY time to waste," Elliot said, swinging into Dean's driveway.

The grass was freshly cut,he had many statues of angels on his lawn and a water fountain in the center. Munch let out a low whistle when he saw the sight.

"I should've become a fed," Munch joked and followed Elliot and Fin to the front steps of the two story house.

Elliot banged on the door and Dean opened. "To what do I owe the honor of having the NYPD on my door step?" Dean was tying his necktie. Elliot grabbed him by his necktie and pulled him closer to him.

"Don't screw with me Porter," Elliot threatened.

"Fin and Munch, do you see this police brutality?" Dean asked with complete seriousness.

"Nope," they both responded in unison.

"Look I'm sorry about Noah, I really am.." Dean began.

"He's Anthony to you," Elliot corrected.

"Anthony. But I don't have any information or any relations to the shooting, so you can leave my property," Dean advised.

"Warrant to search the house and seize computers," Elliot said, pushing the warrant to Dean's chest. Fin pushed Dean aside and the three detectives walked into the house.

"Fin check the living room, John get the bedrooms and computers," Elliot ordered. "I'm gonna talk to the federal rat," Elliot grinned.

John and Fin went to search the respective areas and Elliot stayed downstairs with Dean. "Sit," Elliot commanded.

Dean rolled his eyes and looked back at Elliot.

"I'll stand," Dean said.

Elliot had enough, he put both hands on Dean's shoulders and threw him onto the couch.

"I know it was you, now I just need a confession. And I'll beat it out of you if I have to," Elliot was growing impatient.

"Nothing in the bedrooms," John came out with Dean's Macbook Pro.

"Nothing in the living room," Fin came out empty handed.

Dean laughed in Elliot's face and put a hand on his shoulder. "You know nothing," Dean patted his shoulder and left for work. 


	3. Chapter 3

Fin, Munch and Olivia were sleeping in the cribs. The computer tech, Alex, was sitting in the squad room looking through the MacBook when Elliot came out of the cribs. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and looked at Alex.

"Anything good?" Elliot asked.

"Nada. Everything on this computer is encrypted except two pictures and a useless Word document," Alex sighed.

"Every perp makes a mistake, open the Word documents," Elliot rubbed the back of his neck.

Alex took out Dean's flash drive, which he had left on the desk next to his laptop, and synced it with the computer. He opened his hard drive and opened the first word doucment. It was a picture of Noah getting on the school bus. He opened the second one, it was a picture of Olivia and Noah at the play ground. Alex then clicked the word document and opened it.

Anthony "Noah" Benson- age 8, DOB: January 1, 2004 Hair color: Brown Eye color: Hazel School: John Adams Elementary Leaves school: 3 o' clock sharp

Account for today: Olivia takes him to the park. He has a lunchbox in hand, kinda like the one my nephew has.  
He uses the swing and the slide. Too scared to use the see-saw, wimp.

Dad: Dead.  
Olivia&Noah: soon to be.

Elliot looked at the computer and then at Alex.

"This is NOT useless!" Elliot said, slapping Alex on the back of the head. Elliot printed the document and ran into Cragen's office.

"It better be good, Elliot," Cragen said, as Elliot handed him the paper.

Cragen looked at it twice and stared at Elliot. "Jesus Christ, he was stalking them," Cragen concluded.

"I want Olivia under protective detail at ALL times, clear?" Cragen ordered.

Elliot nodded and raced out his office. He picked up his phone and dialed One Police Plaza.

"Detective Elliot Stabler, Badge 11287 16th Precinct, request of protective detail for Detective Olivia Benson round the clock, Badge 11285 16th precinct, address Bronson Street #24, Manhattan Drive. Clear?" Elliot hung up the phone and walked back into the cribs.

Olivia was sitting up on the bed, palms buried in her face. "How could he, El?" Olivia asked.

"I don't know but Liv, he's been stalking you and he was stalking Noah," Elliot replied.

Olivia stood up and put her gun in it's holster. "Where ya going?" Elliot asked.

"To FBI headquarters," Olivia sighed, pushing Elliot out of the way.

"I'm coming, it's Saturaday. Dean is the only person that comes in on Saturday, I don't want you alone with him," Elliot said.

Olivia knowing she was defeated threw her hands up in exhaustion. The drive to the headquarters was long and silent, until they finally got there.

"Do you think he really did?" Olivia asked. She wanted nothing more than for it to be untrue.

"No, I don't," Elliot said coldly.

"Why? Everyone else thinks he did it," Olivia replied.

"Because I KNOW the son of a bitch did it," Elliot said, matter of factly.

The two walked into the headquarters together and Dean caught sight of them. "Leave me alone," he complained.

"I could tell you the same thing, you've been stalking me for how long was it El?" Olivia asked.

"4 months," Elliot answered her.

Dean reached for his holster. "You didn't think I'd come here on Saturday alone without protection, did you? Do you have any protection Olivia?" Dean asked.

"Don't threaten her," Elliot said, standing protectively in front of Olivia.

"I just want a straight answer, Dean, did you kill Noah?" Olivia whimpered.

Dean put his hands up to the sky. "NO! Now get out!" Dean screamed.

Elliot walked up to Dean and smirked at him.

"We got you, we got more on you than you think or know. We got you and you can't even see it. The shooter had a tattoo on his hand," Elliot replied.

When Dean gave him a "so what" look, Elliot continued.

"A tattoo of a bald headed eagle," Elliot said, with a slight smirk. "Lift up your sleeve so I can collar you, come on," Elliot pushed.

"Get a warrant... El," Dean said, mocking Olivia's nickname for Stabler.

Elliot's veins began to pop out of his neck and his fists were really tight. He grabbed Dean by the collar and pushed him up against a wall.

"Easy 'roids," Dean taunted.

"When I get a warrant for you to show your tattoo, I'm gonna collar your ass," Elliot said, letting him go.

"Come on, El," Olivia said, tugging on Elliot's sleeve.

The two walked out of the building together and Olivia chided at Elliot. "Why can't you ever be civil?" Olivia asked.

"So you don't care that he put your son on a table in the morgue? Or are old flames excused from murder?" Elliot shouted at her. He opened his mouth to apologize after he realized what he said, but she stopped him.

Olivia swallowed a large lump in her throat. She never, in a million years, thought Elliot Stabler would say anything to intentionally hurt her, but here he was accusing her of being a dirty cop.

"That was low, Elliot," she said, getting in the driver side of the car and pulling off.

Elliot Stabler stood in the middle of the headquarter's parking lot in Queen's and looking around he started the trot back to Manhattan.  



End file.
